[Relocated Footnote (1): The impressive manner
of Mrs. Cartwright’s death, who survived her
husband a few years, is remembered in the churches
of Sangamon County. She was attending a religious
meeting at Bethel Chapel, a mile from her house.
She was called upon “to give her testimony,”
which she did with much feeling, concluding with the
words, “the past three weeks have been the happiest
of all my life; I am waiting for the chariot.”
When the meeting broke up, she did not rise with the
rest. The minister solemnly said, “The
chariot has arrived.”—“Early
Settlers of Sangamon County,” by John Carroll
Power.]
[Relocated Footnote (2):
Stuart’s maj. over May in 1836 in Sangamon Co. was 543
" " " Douglas " 1838 " " " " 295
" " " Ralston " 1840 " " " " 575
Hardin’s " " McDougall " 1843 " " " " 504
Baker’s " " Calhoun " 1844 " " " " 373
Lincoln’s " " Cartwright " 1846 " " " " 690
Logan’s " " Harris " 1848 " " " " 263
Yates’s " " Harris " 1850 " " " " 336 ]
[Relocated Footnote (3): We give a copy of these
lines, not on account of their intrinsic merit, but
as illustrating the versatility of the lawyer, orator,
and soldier who wrote them.
Where rolls the rushing Rio Grande,
How peacefully they
sleep!
Far from their native Northern land,
Far from the friends
who weep.
No rolling drums disturb their rest
Beneath the sandy sod;
The mold lies heavy on each breast,
The spirit is with God.
They heard their country’s
call, and came
To battle for the right;
Each bosom filled with martial flame,
And kindling for the
fight.
Light was their measured footsteps
when
They moved to seek the
foe;
Alas that hearts so fiery then
Should soon be cold
and low!]
THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS
The Thirtieth Congress organized on the 6th of December,
1847. Its roll contained the names of many eminent
men, few of whom were less known than his which was
destined to a fame more wide and enduring than all
the rest together. It was Mr. Lincoln’s
sole distinction that he was the only Whig member
from Illinois. He entered upon the larger field
of work which now lay before him without any special
diffidence, but equally without elation. Writing
to his friend Speed soon after his election he said:
“Being elected to Congress, though I am very
grateful to our friends for having done it, has not
pleased me as much as I expected,”—an
experience not unknown to most public men, but probably
intensified in Lincoln’s case by his constitutional
melancholy. He went about his work with little
gladness, but with a dogged sincerity and an inflexible
conscience.
